The invention relates to a reaction chamber, arranged lengthwise and mountable on a chassis, for continuous biological and/or chemical decontamination of objects using a mixture of at least hot air and steam.
German Patent Document DE-PS 34 31 719 teaches such a reaction chamber of this generic type in which, instead of baskets for receiving any type of object, specially designed clothes hangers to receive protective clothing are used. These hangers are hollow inside and have through holes, so that a gas mixture supplied to the clothes hangers from above through a pressure tube flows out of the holes, ventilating the interior of the clothing. Depending on the position of the hangers on the conveyor tracks, such internal ventilation alternates with external ventilation. In both cases, the spent gas mixture is drawn off again immediately below the clothes hangers, is cleaned, and fed back again to the hot gas generator, resulting in a circulatory process. A plurality of reaction sections are arranged side by side along the length of the reaction chamber, to achieve parallel operation. No spatial separation is provided between the individual reaction sections.
The above described reaction chamber has the disadvantage that alternate internal and external ventilation of protective suits is complicated and costly. Since nearly the entire hot gas mixture is transported in a cycle, its preparation and cleaning are costly. Moreover, as far as the degree of contamination is concerned it is also disadvantageous that the reaction sections located side by side are not separated from one another, and that no clear separation is provided between the unclean and clean parts of the decontamination sections.
Because of the hanger construction that serves to receive articles of clothing and to ventilate them internally, decontamination is intended primarily for detoxification of protective suits.
A reaction chamber with a transverse blower is disclosed in German Patent Document DE-PS 36 25 847, in which the hot gas mixture is recirculated in the reaction chamber. In this known device, however, batched decontamination is performed, with the articles of clothing retaining their places in the reaction chamber during decontamination, a process that is completely the opposite of continuous decontamination.
The goal of the present invention is to provide a gas supply and gas exhaust system for a reaction chamber of a mobile device for continuous decontamination of objects using a mixture of at least hot air and steam, in which the nature of the objects decontaminated is variable, and which is simple, economical, and efficient, in terms of the biological and chemical decontamination to be performed.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by the decontamination chamber according to the invention, in which the reaction section is made in the form of a tunnel, and is enclosed all the way around in cross section. This arrangement produces a clear separation between unclean and clean areas, so that a high level of decontamination and efficiency is achieved in conjunction with a powerful transverse flow of gases. A conveyor guide rail defines a track or path through the decontamination section, along which are transported a plurality of baskets into which articles to be decontaminated are placed. The transverse flow of hot gases penetrates the articles in the baskets and is drawn off by a longitudinal flow generated by a blower at an end of the reaction section. Regardless of the nature of the articles to be decontaminated, the transverse flow provides ventilation, and hence good heat transfer to the articles, which is critical for biological and chemical decontamination.
The advantages achieved with the invention consist in the fact that the hot gas mixture generated by the gas generator acts in simple fashion on the baskets moved along a guide. The gas mixture is initially conducted through the reaction sections, then drawn off and exhausted into the open. Because it is exhausted into the open, no costly preparation of the gas flow is required as in the known device. The baskets are also subjected to a powerful transverse flow in which the hot gas mixture is circulated transversely with respect to the lengthwise flow.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.